Calgary could see 2021 voting relief in the form of tabulators, electronic poll books and voter assist terminals after October’s civic election debacle. A report coming to council Monday outlines some of the challenges, including ballot shortages, a crashed website and results that trickled – all leaving citizens frustrated, politicos sweating and the media cursing. Calgary’s returning officer and city clerk, Laura Kennedy, is pushing for a deeper look into modernizing Calgary election system, recommending that her department be tasked with creating a four-year plan leading up to the next civic election.
Though she has experience working with different election systems, Kennedy and her team did get a demonstration of new technology being used in the province’s Calgary-Lougheed byelection held last week, including the use of electronic tabulators. Results were quickly tabulated in that vote and thus provided swiftly to citizens, candidates and the media.
“Looking into the use of tabulators is definitely something I’m going to do,” Kennedy told Metro.
Full Article: Vote tabulators may be used for Calgary 2021 municipal election | Metro Calgary.